Kingdom Hearts: Defending the Light
by GAvillain
Summary: Sora, Donald, and Goofy are on a new adventure to save the worlds from a horrible demise. Along the way, the team meets old friends and new friends and fights against enemies both new and old. *DISCONTINUED* Sorry.
1. New Beginings

AN: This fanfic is canon to my other fanfic, Star Crossed Darkness. Take a look. It might clarify any questions.

Sora breathed in a big deep breath and blew as hard as he could. The candles each flickered out to the applause of Sora friends around him. Sora could hardly believe it, but today was his sixteenth birthday! It had been about seven months since he had taken down Xemnas and Organization XIII, and, truth be told, he was starting to miss the action and hopping from world to world going on adventures.

"Congratulations," Riku said, "Now you're old enough to drive a car around the three roads on the island."

Sora laughed. What was usually a right of passage to boys his age seemed very minor to Sora who had spent the last few years flying around in space and fighting Heartless, Nobodies, and devious Villains. Driving just wasn't that important in the grand scheme of things.

After eating cake and hanging out, Tidus, Selphie, and Wakka left, leaving just Sora, Riku, and Kairi sitting on the paopu tree watching the sunset, just like old times.

"Do you think we'll ever go back?" Sora asked, talking more to himself than anyone else. Riku shrugged.

"I can't see how things will hold up without us for long," Riku joked. Sora laughed and turned to Kairi who was looking very seriously into the sunset. Sora was confused.

"Kairi," Sora inquired, "What's wrong?"

As if awaking from a trance, Kairi suddenly shook her head and turned to Sora and Riku.

"Oh, nothing," Kairi said, obviously feeling uneasy, "I've just got this funny feeling, like something bad is about to happen." The boys looked at her puzzled. She laughed and shook her head.

"Crazy, right?" She said trying to shrug it off. But right at that moment, something flashed in the sky.

Everyone looked up towards it. It was like a shooting star flying down, but it was still twilight. The object grew bigger and bigger as it grew closer, the trio on the edge of their seat trying to figure out what it was.

Sora's hand was twitching, ready to summon the keyblade if it was dangerous. The object landed with a giant splash on the beach one the other side of the island. Sora, Riku, and Kairi ran across the pier and across to the other side of the island to see what it was. When they got up to it, Sora's heart leaped with joy. It was the Gummi ship!

The ship's door opened. and Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Pluto all jumped out of the ship. Donald and Goofy ran up to Sora and tackled him with a hug.

"Donald! Goofy!" Sora yelled ecstatic.

"Gawrsh, Sora, we sure have missed you," Goofy said smiling.

"Yeah, I've missed having you around. Hanging out with you makes me look so much smarter," Donald teased.

"It's good to see you again, Sora and happy birthday," King Mickey said, "But we're not here on just a formal visit. Something terrible has happened!"

Sora looked at the king trying to look serious.

"What's the matter, your majesty?" Sora asked.

"Traverse Town," Mickey said, "In her quest for a new lair, Maleficent used her dark powers to turn the former safe haven into a city of darkness."

Sora's jaw dropped. How could this have happened?

"But that's not even the main problem," Mickey said gravely, "The real danger is that something destroyed Yen Sid's tower. Yen Sid and the fairies made it out safely but everything else in his world was destroyed"

Sora went into an even greater state of shock. Yen Sid's tower? It wasn't possible! Yen Sid's magic would have protected it.

"However, Yen Sid's world didn't die in vain," Mickey said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small bag. "Yen Sid was able to create this spell that would allow a keyblade to seal a world from meeting this sort of end. Mine's already been outfitted with it but we need to do the same to yours."

Sora, Riku, and Kairi all summoned up their blades and King Mickey went to each of them, reached inside the bag, and sprinkled shiny silver powder over each of their keyblades which glowed white in recognition of the magic.

"Now let's get going" Mickey said, "Sora. You, Donald, and Goofy take the Gummi ship and start going to the worlds, protecting them with the keyblade. Riku. You and I will travel using a star shard. Kairi, I want you to stay safe here. Pluto will keep ya safe if anybody shows up. We can't afford to lose one of the Princesses of Heart."

Kairi started to protest, but everyone else began piling to their stations before she could say anything. Within moments, Sora, Donald, and Goofy took off in the Gummi ship, and Riku and the King had disappeared with the star shard.

On the platform of an old tree house, a cloaked man was watching everything transpire.

"Now all the pieces are in place."


	2. Old Friends, New Problems

"Alright!" Sora said, "It's great to have the three musketeers together again."

"Four, Sora," a voice said from the backseat of the ship.

"Jiminey!" Sora yelled, happy to see his old friend, "I thought you went back to your home world after we defeated Xemnas."

"I did," the cricket replied, "But when Mickey came to my world to put it under Yen Sid's protection, I came with them. After all, if I don't come with you guys, you'll never be able to remember what happens."

"Hey, what do you mean by that?" Donald quacked.

"Hey guys, look!" Goofy yelled from the driver's seat, pointing to a world. They all ran up to the windshield to see what Goofy was pointing at. They all smiled when they saw it.

"It's Hollow Bast- I mean Radiant Gardens!" Sora announced. Goofy flew the ship into Radiant Garden's atmosphere and landed the ship right next to the marketplace. Donald and Goofy hopped out of the ship. Sora opened up his pocket for Jiminey to hop in. He did so and Sora followed Donald and Goofy out of the ship.

"It's been a while, huh?" Donald said.

"Indeed it has," said a voice behind them. The trio turned around to see who it was.

"Leon!" Sora yelled as the trio ran up to him. Leon laughed.

"Come on," Leon replied, "everybody's back at Merlin's house."

The four of them walked through the city back to Merlin's house. Sora smiled thinking about all of the good memories they had back here. They walked in to find Yuffie, Aerith, and Merlin all having tea at Merlin's table and Cid working on some robot-like thing on the other side of the room.

"Ha ha! Hello my boy!" Merlin said as he stood up from his chair, "Good to see you again. Won't you join us in a cup of tea?"

"Sure, Merlin," Goofy replied.

Merlin clapped and four extra chairs flew from out of his carpet back and the table grew larger to accommodate them. Cid grunted at the sight and Sora laughed. Cid always got annoyed by Merlin's magic. Leon and the the trio sat down at the new chairs. Jiminey hopped out of Sora's pocket and sat down on the table. Merlin clapped again and five teacups flew out of his bag and the teapot poured tea into each glass.

"So Sora, you guys off on another mission?" Yuffie asked.

"Yep," Sora said nodding.

"What's going on?" Merlin inquired.

"Something's going around destroying worlds!" Donald replied, "So we're going around putting a protective spell over all of the worlds to keep 'em safe."

"Hmph," Cid grunted, "No spell's gonna protect this town better than my Sentinel robot, here."

Sora turned around to see Cid's robot. It was pretty large, probably around eight feet tall if it were standing up.

"There he goes again!" Merlin said, obviously thinking that this was the stupidest thing ever, "he's been piecing together that pile of junk for weeks now. Like it's going to do the town much good."

"IT'S GONNA BE THE TOWN'S SAVIOR!" Cid yelled at Merlin, "The Sentinel can lift up to three thousand pounds, has nigh impenetrable armor, can fly, and shoot lasers that can take down a Gummi ship in one hit!"

"Bah, one large enough jolt of electricity and that thing will be shut down permanently!" Merlin replied. He turned back to Sora, "Well we welcome your protective spell."

"And if there's anything that we can do to help any of the other worlds, we'd be happy to help," Aerith added with a smile.

"Thanks," Sora said, finishing his tea, "Now, if you don't mind, we're going to go up to the castle to see Tron."

Everyone nodded and the four of them set off for the castle. After finding their way through the twists and turns of the castle hallways, Sora and the gang arrived at the computer room.

"Tron!" the three of them yelled out. The computer switched on.

"Hey guys," Tron responded, "Back again?"

"Yep," Goofy replied, "How are things in Space Paranoids?"

"Pretty boring," Tron replied, "Just a virus or two here and-"

Tron stopped short. Sora, Donald, and Goofy all looked confused.

"Tron?" Sora said, "What's wrong."

"Did any of you just shoot off an e-mail?" Tron asked.

"Nope," Donald replied.

"Something just shot off an e-mail to Cid's computer," Tron stated.

Cid's computer made the binging sound that meant that he had received an e-mail.

"Hmph," Cid said, "Looks like the kids just sent me a message from Ansem's computer."

Cid clicked on the message to open it. When he did, his whole screen went red and a face developed on the screen.

"Is that the best a user can do?" the MCP said as it appeared. The face disappeared from the screen and suddenly, the wire connecting the Sentinel to Cid's computer began pulsing with electricity. The Sentinel turned on with its wire's and lights all glowing red.

"Oh shit," Cid said.


	3. The Harder They Fall

Sora, Donald, and Goofy ran as fast they could back into the town. After a few minutes, they arrived panting at the door to Merlin's house. Sora was about to open the door when Goofy stopped him short.

"Wait!" Goofy shouted, "I've got a bad feeling about this."

"Aw, shut up ya big palooka," Donald said back to him.

Sora pushed the door and walked in. The room was pitch black.

"Merlin? Cid? Leon? Anybody?" Sora called out.

Suddenly, the wires and circuitry of the Sentinel became visible as they emitted an eerie red glow.

"Pitiful users," the all too familiar voice of the MCP called out. The Sentinel raised up it's right hand.

"Look out!" Goofy yelled as he tackled down Sora and Donald just in time to avoid being hit by a blast from the Sentinel's laser canon.

The three of them scurried out the door, narrowly avoid another blast from the Sentinel. Right behind them, the Sentinel, being too big for the door blasted through a chunk of the wall and ran after them. Sora, Donald, and Goofy frantically ran up the stairs to the marketplace so that they could get into the Gummi Ship. However, once they arrived, the Sentinel landed right in front of them.

"Pitiful users, ever cowardly," the MCP taunted.

"Who you calling cowardly?" Sora said, drawing his keyblade. Donald and Goofy both summoned up their weapons too.

"Remember the Alamo!" Goofy yelled as the three of them ran up to the Sentinel and began attacking it with their weapons. Unfortunately, their attacks just clanged off of the Sentinel's armor.

"Is that the best a user can do?" the MCP asked, gloating about him own power.

"Okay, new plan: Donald, you and I hit the robot with magic!" Sora yelled.

Donald nodded and the two unleashed blasts of firaga. Even after two blasts of firaga, the MCP was standing up straight, completely unaffected by the blasts.

"Gawrsh, this thing is really strong!" Goofy stated, "Maybe we can beat it by using Trinity Limit!"

The team nodded and hopped into position. They raised their weapons together and unleashed a storm of energy upon the Sentinel. When the light cleared, the MCP was still standing unharmed.

"Pathetic users," the MCP called out and unleashed several more blasts from his laser canon.

"New new plan: RUN!" Donald shouted. The trio sprinted down the stairs back into the village. The Sentinel chased after them.

"Whack!" Donald called out when he looked back to see the Sentinel, "Thunder!"

A bolt of lightning fell from the sky and hit the Sentinel, stunning it momentarily. Donald leaped in amazement and continued running.

"Sora! Goofy! Thunder has an effect on the robot!" Donald called out to his companions.

"Hey! Didn't Merlin say that one large enough jolt of electricity would shut it down?" Sora realized, still running through the streets.

"Yeah! We just need to find a large enough source of electricity and we can shut the Sentinel down," Goofy said.

The trio dodged another laser blast from the Sentinel.

"We could use the town electric generator!" Sora announced, "Quick, head towards the Bailey!"

The trio arrived at the Bailey and ran to the town's electric generator. They turned around and the Sentinel landed in front of them and began walking towards them.

"Pitiful users with your pitiful intellect!" the MCP called out, "You have nowhere left to run for you have taken yourself into a dead end!"

The Sentinel raised up his right hand, ready to finish the trio off with another laser.

"Wait!" Sora called out, "All day you've been shooting at us with lasers. Don't you have any physical strength?"

"The physical strength of the Sentinel robot is unmatched!" the MCP called out.

"I doubt it!" Sora yelled out, "Why don't you prove it"

"I had hoped to spare you the humiliation of hand to hand combat, but if you wish to meet your demise in that fashion, I will oblige." the Sentinel ran up to Sora and punched at him. Sora ducked and the Sentinel's fist went right into the generator.

Electricity pulsed out and surged throughout the Sentinel. The robot's circuitry exploded and the Sentinel fell to ground, destroyed.

"All right," the trio said as they high fived.

"I guess building somethin' that strong was a bad idea," Cid admitted back at Merlin's house.

"Indeed it was," Merlin scolded, "technology knows no loyalty, only what it's programmed to do!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Cid grunted and began to walk out, "I'd best start workin' on repairing that generator y'all broke."

Merlin turned back to Sora, Donald, and Goofy.

"Good show my boys," Merlin said proudly, "Your quick thinking and determination has once again saved the town from complete destruction."

"It was no big deal," Sora boasted. Everyone laughed.

The Sentinel laid lifeless next to the broken generator. In a flurry of flames and a plume of smoke, Maleficent and Hades appeared. Maleficent's staff glowed green and the Sentinel stood up, brought back by her magic. It turned to face it's rescuers.

"Good show," Hades said, "had me on the edge of my seat the whole time. The outcome was a bit disappointing, though, with the kid doing ya in."

"However," Maleficent piped in, "we can change all of that, if you agree to work with us."

The MCP was silent for a moment but then spoke up.

"How could I resist the chance to get my revenge on those pathetic users?" the MCP asked. Hades and Maleficent smirked and in a flurry of flames and smoke, the three villains disappeared. Cid walked into the Bailey and looked down at the generator.

"Huh?" Cid said, "Where'd the Sentinel go?"


	4. Strictly Buisness

"We'd better get goin'," Sora said as he waved to the Restoration Committee.

He turned around to see Donald, arms folded, tapping his right foot.

"What?" Sora asked Donald.

"Aren't you forgetting about a certain spell, Sora?" Donald reminded Sora.

"Oh yeah!" Sora exclaimed. He whipped out his keyblade, twirled it around, and stabbed it into the ground, causing the entire town to shake. A locking sound was heard throughout the world.

"Now we'd better get going," Sora said as the trio headed to the Gummi Ship.

Sora and Goofy waved good-bye from the cockpit as Donald flew the ship out of Radiant Gardens' atmosphere.

"So, uh, where to next?" Goofy asked.

"According to the world map, the closest world to us right now is..." Donald messed around with several buttons, "Olympus Coliseum."

"I wonder how Herc and Meg are doing?" Sora pondered out loud.

"It sure will be great to see 'em again!" Goofy said.

The ship was about to land on a cloud outside of the Coliseum when some invisible forced pulled them away. Everyone was out of their seats and being shaken around the cockpit with Donald tried to regain control of the ship, but to no avail. The ship landed right smack dab in the middle of the Underworld.

Pain and Panic ran out of the Cave of the Dead screaming like lunatics. They ran right past the Gummi ship without even seeming to notice it. As if it had registered in their minds at the exact same time, the stopped short and walked up to the ship.

The door of the ship swung open and Sora, Donald, and Goofy hopped out. When they noticed Pain and Panic standing in front of them smiling widely, they all jumped back. But the surprise soon wore off, and Sora drew his keyblade.

"What are you two up to?" Sora asked them sharply. Panic spoke up first.

"We need a favor, Sora," Panic said, smiling as if they were close friends.

"Not a chance," Sora yelled back, "You two helped Hades in his plans to kill Hercules last time we were here! Why should we help you?"

"Because there's been a power shift in the Underworld!" Pain spoke up this time, "Hades has been off on top secret business for the past few weeks and left us in charge of the Underworld while he was gone."

"But Hecate, Hades's rival showed up and took over," Panic finished Pain's thought, "And now we really need your help to defeat Hecate and get Hades back on the throne."

"So, let me get this straight," Sora said, "You're asking me to help the guy who's tried to kill me twice in the past get his throne back?"

"Yes, please," Pain and Panic both nodded.

"Well forget it!" Donald called out.

"Yeah, Hades is a villain," Goofy added, "And we don't help none of them!"

"But Hecate is WORSE than Hades!" Panic shouted.

"Yeah," Pain added, "the devil ya know is a lot better than the devil ya don't!"

"Alright, team huddle," Sora said to Donald and Goofy. The three of them huddled together.

"So what do you guys think?" Sora asked them.

"I say we get out of the Underworld ASAP and leave Pain and Panic to deal with their own problem," Donald piped up stubbornly.

"Gawrsh, Donald," Goofy replied, "But what if Hecate really is worse than Hades? That's a whole lot of power we'd be handing off to a stranger."

"Aw phooey," Donald squawked.

"Wait, Donald," Sora added, "I think Goofy has a point. We can't just leave someone who could be worse than Hades in charge of the dead. Besides, if we defeat Hecate, maybe Phil will make us true heroes!"

They broke the huddle and turned back to Pain and Panic.

"Alright, here's the deal," Sora said, "We'll get rid of Hecate but we're not doing this for Hades or for you guys, we're doing it to stop a potential threat to the cosmos. Understood?"

Pain and Panic both nodded.

"Great!" Sora said, "Now lead the way."

The trio followed Pain and Panic through the Cavern of the Dead, not knowing the horrors they would soon face or how much they would come to regret that last statement.

Hecate watched this all transpire in her mystical crystal.

"They think they can waltz in here, throw around some stones, and go home? Ha! This is my Underworld, and they're about to find out just what that means," Hecate said to herself. She turned to the shadows of the throne room, "Kefka, I want you to give our guests a big Underworld welcome for me."


	5. Clowning Around

AN: A special thanks to my YT buddy, kefka62892, for helping me write some of Kefka's lines.

Sora, Donald, Goofy, Pain, and Panic walked along the shores of the River Styx, heading towards a large, skull-shaped castle up ahead.

"Are we there yet?" Donald moaned.

"Gawrsh, Donald, we've only been walking for five minutes at the most," Goofy chuckled.

"Aw, phooey!" Donald squawked.

"So you know what you have to do?" Hecate said, addressing the person she called Kefka.

Kefka was a tall, thin man with corn-yellow hair styled with feathers of several different varieties. His face was as white as liquid paper and he had several red and purple designs around his eyes. His lips were blood red and outlined the smile of a madman. For clothes, he wore extravagant jester clothing with many colored patterns but mostly being styled with yellows and reds. And on his back, the man wore a blood red cape.

"Of course," Kefka replied in a very playful sounding voice, "I get to play with the Keyblade master!"

Hecate glared at him.

"You're not to play around with him, Kefka," Hecate told Kefka, "You're to wipe him out here and now. Understand?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm on it," Kefka said as he walked out the door. After closing the door behind him, he said to himself, "I'd watch your back if I were you, witch. You're only half god so first chance that I get, I'm killing you too."

Kefka chuckled insanely at the notion.

"We're getting close to the castle," Pain announced to the group.

"Yeah, so from this point on, we need to be on our guard," Panic added.

The trio nodded and headed up through the caves of the Underworld. Pain and Panic lead the trio through an enormous crack in the cave wall. After walking through it, the party arrived in a long path way lit by green light radiating from the pits of souls below. Up ahead, Kefka stood as if waiting for them.

"So, this is the legendary Keyblade master? Humph. I've seen shrimps bigger than you!" Kefka said as he burst into insane laughter. Sora looked at him in awe.

"You're bizarre!" Sora called out.

"Bizarre?" Kefka questioned, "You wanna know how I became this way? See, on the day of my birth, I was cursed to kill my father and marry my mother. Seeking to escape their fate, my parents left me on top of a mountain to die. But a Corinthian aristocrat found me and adopted me. Years later, when I went to the Oracle of Delphi to get a question answered, I was shooed away, being told that I would kill my father and marry my mother. I ran away in fear. On the road, I ran into some arrogant jerk and killed him. I then arrived in Thebes and saved it from the Sphinx. As a reward, I was married to the queen of Thebes and made king. Later I realized that the man I killed on the road was my father and my new wife was mother. It caused me to go insane and, bing bang boom, I became like this."

Everyone looked at Kefka in awe at the story he had just told.

"Well, anyways," Kefka continued, "Today's weather forecast: freezing cold! Icy ducks are NOT excluded!"

Kefka leaped from the ledge that he was standing on and flew over the party, firing blizzard magic down at the party. Sora cast reflect on the party and shielded them from the blasts.

"No fair using Reflect!" Kefka whined, still hovering up ahead.

Sora grunted and hurled his Keyblade at Kefka, perfectly aimed to drill the clown in the heart. Kefka snatched the Keyblade just before it came into contact with him.

"Not smart, throwing your weapon," Kefka giggled as he inspected the Keyblade.

As Kefka inspected the blade, it disappeared from his hands in a flash of light. It reappeared in Sora's hand immediately after.

"Ooh, neat trick!" Kefka yelled down, "Can you teach me?"

"Keyblade masters ONLY!" Sora yelled up to the crazy clown.

"Hmm, this boy might just be what I need to make Hecate a permanent resident down here," Kefka mumbled to himself before turning back to the party, "Sorry boys, but I can't stay. I've got people to torment. Heartless, take out this trash!"

Kefka flew off as a swarm of Heartless surrounded Sora, Donald, Goofy, Pain, and Panic.

"Heartless!" the trio all yelled at once.

Despite his initial surprise, Sora couldn't be happier than when fighting the Heartless. It was just like old times. Sora sliced through several Heartless and turned to say something to Donald and Goofy but was too stunned by what he saw to speak. The other Heartless were being massacred by a purple and green dragon. After the Heartless were all eliminated, the dragon shape-shifted back into Pain and Panic.

"Hee-hee, that was fun!' Panic said.

"Yeah! Let's do it again!" Pain added.

"A-hyuck, we did know you guys could fight," Goofy said.

"Of course we can!" Panic said.

"What do ya think we are? Defenseless?" Pain added.

Sora scratched the back of his head and laughed.

"Now, c'mon," Panic called out, "we have to get on with our mission."

The party walked up to the doorway into Hades's throne room. As Sora opened the door, two winged wolves flew out, one landing on Donald, the other landing on Goofy. Sora was knocked down by a blast of magic from a bizarre looking woman was a blue hue to her. Hecate.

"Welcome to the Underworld!" Hecate said to the party as Pain and Panic latched on to each other, afraid.

"Under new management!" piped up one of the winged wolves.

"I'd be happy to bring you in," Hecate said in a kind and soothing voice only to changed to a dark and sinister voice as she added the last word, "Permanently!"


	6. Season of the Witch

Sora leaped to his feet and pointed his keyblade at Hecate.

"Hecate," Sora said, trying his best to sound tough and macho like Herc, "I must insist that you vacate the Underworld and return to haunting the nether regions of night."

"Such a polite young man, " Hecate said as she glided back over to Hades's throne and sat down, "Get rid of him!"

On cue, a Heartless that looked like a giant diamond with arms and legs appeared in front of Sora. It went to punch Sora but the speedy Keyblade master leaped out of the way and the Heartless punched the ground where Sora was standing instead.

Goofy was still struggling with the winged wolf on top of him, struggling in a push war with the beast to get it off of him. The wolf's foul breath reeked of decaying meat. Goofy scrunched up his nose after smelling it's putrid breath.

Donald was also still struggling with his wolf in a push war. He desperately wanted to cast a spell on the wolf, but doing so would result in him pulling out of the push war and there was no way that he would be able to cast the spell faster than the wolf would bite his face off.

Pain and Panic were still waiting outside the chamber, watching the trio fight for their lives against Hecate's minions. The two looked at each other and nodded. The message was clear: _they HAD to help!_

Sora dodged another of the crystal Heartless' punches. The thing was big and strong but not too fast.

_Hey, maybe I can use that against him, _Sora said to himself.

The Heartless went into another punch, but instead of jumping away, this time Sora slid in between the Crystal Heartless' leg. As the Heartless brought it's arm back up and began to turn around, Sora smashed it into a million pieces with one hit of his Keyblade.

The wolf continued to breathe it's putrid breath over Goofy. The stench of it was too much for him, soon it would knock him out cold. The wolf knew this too and didn't stop breathing on Goofy, not even to swallow. A glob of saliva dropped out of the Wolf's mouth and on to Goofy's nose. His automatic reflex was to jerk up his knee, and when he did, it nailed the wolf right in the groin.

The wolf staggered back in pain. Goofy jumped up and wiped away the glob of saliva from his nose. He hurled his shield right at the wolf on top of Donald. It hit it's mark and knocked the wolf into a wall where a bunch of rubble fell on top of it.

"How's that for a rescue, Donald?" Goofy said, utterly proud of himself, so much so that he didn't notice the wolf he had nailed in the groin about to attack him from behind.

"Look out!" Donald yelled as he cast Thunder on the wolf. The wolf cried out in pain and fell to the ground.

Donald and Goofy ran up to Sora and stood next to him. The trio held out their weapons and stood in an offensive position facing Hecate.

"Get real!" Hecate shouted at her opponents, "You think you can waltz in here, throw around a few pebbles, and go home?"

"It was a thought," Sora said smirking.

"This is MY Underworld," Hecate continued, ignoring Sora's comment, "And you're about to find out just what that means!"

Hecate's hands began to glow blue as she prepare to attack Sora, Donald, and Goofy with magic. However, before she could get the chance, Pain and Panic jumped on her from behind and began pelting her with a multitude of punches.

"Get off!" Hecate yelled as she hurled Pain and Panic across the room. She turned her attention back to the trio to find them about to perform Trinity Limit. The trio brought their weapons together and a storm of energy radiated outward. When the light cleared, Hecate was stumbling around, clearly injured, and tripped out one of the large circular windows into the River Styx.

"All right!" Sora said, pumping his fist in their air. Pain and Panic waddled over to the trio.

"Mission accomplished!" Panic said.

"Yeah, thanks for all your help!" Pain added, smiling.

"No problem, guys," the trio said in unison.

Everyone laughed.

"Oh yeah!" Sora said, remembering something, "I almost forgot..."

Sora twirled his keyblade around and plunged it into the ground, causing the whole Underworld to shake. A locking sound was heard afterwards.

"Olympus Coliseum-Check," Jiminey Cricket said, popping out of Sora's pocket and scribbling something down.

Hecate crawled on to the shore out of the River Styx. She couldn't believe it! She had finally taken the Underworld for herself, and she'd been defeated by children and incompetent minions! She crawled further up the beach until she came to a pair of pointy white shoes. She looked up to see their owner and saw Kefka over head.

"Thank Zeus it's you, Kefka!" Hecate said relieved, "If we hurry, we can reclaim the Underworld and destroy the brat together!"

Kefka just smiled at her.

"Poor, poor Hecate," Kefka said in a mock sad voice, "Her life's ambitions just got flushed down the crapper by a mere child. I suppose I should just put her out of her misery!"

"Wha- Kefka no!" Hecate shouted, praying that Kefka was only teasing.

"Bye-bye," Kefka said as he disintegrated her with a blast of magic. He cackled insanely until he heard what sounded like clapping. He turned his head to see Hades standing there applauding.

"Good show, Keffers," Hades said smirking, "Your powers are as impressive as a David Blaine magic show. Heck, even better than that! Anyways, I came here to ask ya this: how do ya feel about teams?"

Kefka smiled, "As long as it's not Team Edward or Team Jacob, I'm there!"

Hades smirked and the two of them disappeared in a puff of smoke.


	7. Defenders of the Night

The Gummi ship took off out of the Underworld, leaving that dreary place behind. The entire party was ecstatic about getting out of the Underworld.

"So, uh, where to next, Donald?" Sora asked.

"According to the map, the next world we're coming up on is a world called _Manhattan_," Donald replied.

"Gawrsh, have we ever been to "Mad-Hat-Ton" before?" Goofy asked.

"That's Manhattan, Goofy," Jiminey replied, "And according to my journal, we've never been there."

"Well, we've gotta seal Manhattan up too, so take her down," Sora said to the party.

The Gummi ship flew into Manhattan's atmosphere. The trio looked down to see that Manhattan was a busting city filled with tall buildings, cars, and people-lots and LOTS of people. It was lit up like Christmas lights on the night sky.

As they began to descend, some odd, shadowy creature flew into the wind-shield, smashing it to pieces. The party screamed as the bizarre creature flew off, cackling a laugh that sent shivers down Sora's spine.

"What was that?" Sora shouted out after the creature had flown off.

"I don't know, but I'm landing us before we find out!" Goofy hollered.

"But WHERE are we gonna land?" Donald asked nervously.

"There!" yelled Sora. He was pointing down below them at a dark and seemingly deserted alleyway.

"Gawrsh, can we fit in there?" Goofy asked.

"We've gotta try!" Donald stated.

Goofy gently took the Gummi ship down into the alleyway, barely getting in by the skin of their teeth. The trio squeezed out of the Gummi ship and walked out of the alleyway. Donald cast an invisibility spell on the Gummi ship.

"Maybe you two should stay hidden, while I take a look around," Sora said. Donald and Goofy nodded but just before Sora could walk away, they heard the familiar sounds of a battle going on above them.

The party scurried up the metallic latter to the top of the building to find two monsters similar to the creature that attacked them fighting against several Heartless. One of the monsters was maroon colored with long silver hair; the other was teal colored and plump. Sora, Donald, and Goofy rushed to aid of the creatures who were taken back at first but quickly swept back into battle. After thrashing through the Heartless, the party turned to talk with the strange creatures, if they could talk, that is.

"Hi," Sora said waving, trying to keep it simple, "Me Sora. This Donald and Goofy."

"Brooklyn, why are they talking so funny," the plump one said to the one with long hair, apparently named Brooklyn.

"I don't know, Broadway," Brooklyn said to the plump one, "Maybe they don't speak English very well."

"You things can TALK!" Sora yelled in surprise.

"We're not 'things'," Broadway said crossly, "we're Gargoyles!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean-" Sora said only to be interrupted by Brooklyn.

"It's alright, we get it. Anyways, thank you for helping us fight Xanatos's monsters," Brooklyn said.

"Xanatos?" Goofy said, scratching his head.

"He's a villain of a sorts," Brooklyn said, "Always hatching schemes and trying control us and the rest of our clan."

"You mean there's MORE of your kind?" Sora said in shock.

"So it must've been one of your clan that attacked us!" Donald squawked.

"It couldn't have been one of our clan, could it?" Broadway thought out loud.

"Look!" Goofy yelled, pointing at a roof top a few buildings away. Sitting atop that building was a Gargoyle, similar to Broadway and Brooklyn only bigger and more muscular. The creature spread out it's wings and laughed that same sinister laugh that sent chills down everyone's spines.

"Goliath?" Brooklyn shouted out, surprised. The creature flew off, still cackling that bone-chilling laugh. After a few minutes, everyone came out of shock. Brooklyn broke the silence.

"Come on," he said, "we'll take you three back to the clock-tower and have a little talk with Goliath."

"But Brooklyn," Broadway interjected, "we can only carry one each. One of them would have to stay behind."

"You guys carry Donald and Goofy," Sora said, "I have... my own ways of getting around."

The two Gargoyles nodded, picked up Donald and Goofy, and took off. Sora pulled out several necklaces from inside his shirt. He fumbled around with them until his found the one whose gem was green and yellow colored. He tucked the other necklaces back into his shirt and gripped onto the yellow-green one he took out.

"Give me strength!" Sora shouted out. In a flash of light, Tinker Bell appeared.

"Hey Tink, do ya think you can help me fly?" Sora asked. Tinker Bell nodded and flew around Sora, spreading pixie dust all over him. Sora felt himself lift off the ground and flew off behind Brooklyn and Broadway.

The five of them landed on the balcony of a large clock tower.

"Thanks Tink," Sora said to the pixie. She nodded and disappeared into another flash of light.

The sound of flapping wings diverted the attention of the five of them as they saw two more Gargoyles flying towards the clock tower. One of them was a small, olive-green Gargoyle with his wings attached to his arms and legs. The other Gargoyle looked exactly like the silhouette the party had seen earlier, only this one was purple with jet black hair.

"Goliath," Brooklyn spoke up, "we need to talk!"


	8. Something Suspicious This Way Comes

"Brooklyn," Goliath said after the young Gargoyle explain the nightly occurrences, "Surely you must no that I am not in the habit of playing childish pranks or laughing maniacally."

"Do ye even know how to cackle maniacally?" asked Hudson, an elderly Gargoyle who had been sitting in a recliner watching television.

"Well anyways," Lexington, the young olive colored Gargoyle, said, "Goliath was with me on patrol all night. He couldn't have attacked you."

"Look," Brooklyn said, "We know what we saw and heard! And it was most definitely Goliath."

"I'm not so sure," Goofy said, obviously deep in thought.

Everybody turned to him.

"The thing that attacked our ship looked a lot like Goliath, except it's skin was black, it's hair was white, and it's eyes glowed red! And Goliath don't fit none of those categories," Goofy explained.

"Then what could it have been?" Broadway pondered out loud.

Goliath roared, "I don't know, but it is certain that Xanatos is behind all of this!"

"Wait," Sora interjected, "You guys have mentioned Xanatos before. Who is he?"

"Xanatos is our enemy!" Goliath shouted, "He is a devious man who seeks to control us for his own wicked ends and the one behind the appearance of the Heartless."

"Sounds like trouble," Donald squawked.

"Brooklyn, Lexington," Goliath spoke up. The two Gargoyles turned their attention to Goliath, "You two, Donald, and Goofy will go investigate Xanatos's labs. Broadway, Hudson – You both shall go out on patrol. Sora. You and I shall go to the scene of the attack to see if we can find this strange attacker."

Everyone nodded. Brooklyn and Lexington flew off with Donald and Goofy while Sora took off with Goliath.

"This is the place," Sora said when he spotted the scene of the attack.

Goliath landed on the rooftop and set Sora down. Looking around, Sora realized for the first time just how close the attack was to the sea. Sora looked out at the water and noticed something peculiar.

"Goliath, what's that?" Sora said pointing at what he saw.

"That is a human contraption called an oil rig," Goliath replied, "And it seems to be abandoned."

"Then I don't think THAT'S normal," Sora said pointing at a small boat sailing out to the rig.

"Indeed not," Goliath growled.

Brooklyn, Lexington, Donald, and Goofy arrived at a hospital like building with the words _Gen-U Tech_ written in large letters on the side of the building. The four landed on the roof.

"This is _Gen-U Tech_," Brooklyn explained, "It's one of the companies that Xanatos owns. It specializes in making all sorts of genetic monsters thank to Doctor Sevarius."

"Sevarius?" Donald asked.

"He's what you might call a mad scientist," Lexington responded, "He created several mutate type creatures that were part human, part animal."

"We thought you guys were Mutates when we first saw you," Brooklyn added, "But your strange disposition implied that you two were always like this."

"H'yuck, yep," Goofy chuckled.

"C'mon," Brooklyn said, "Let's get in and get out."

The four crawled in through an air duct and arrived in a room that appeared to be an office. The four hopped down into the room once they were sure it was empty.

"Sevarius's office," Lexington stated.

Lexington turned on the computer on Sevarius's desk.

"What are you doing?" Donald asked Lexington.

"I'm searching for any information we can find on that thing that attacked you guys," Lexington replied, "Hmm, this looks promising."

Lexington clicked on a link entitled _Thailog Project. _A video began to play. Scenes of a laboratory setting as well as the creature that attacked the Gummi ship began to play.

"Hey!" Goofy shouted, "That's the thing that attacked us!"

"I am truly a genius!" a voice from the video that Donald and Goofy assumed belonged to Dr. Sevarius said, "I have succeeded in cloning a living Gargoyle. I chose Goliath as my specimen since he was obviously the strongest of the Gargoyles in New York. However, I ran into a slight conundrum: the heart. This metaphysical source of all feeling has long been beyond the reach and comprehension of science. However, my studies of the heart have allowed me to create a replica of one, using data from the heart of Mr. Xanatos."

The four gasped.

"The clone was a perfect replica of Goliath," the voice of Sevarius continued, "until the darkness of Mr. Xanatos's heart grew to be too much for the creature. It turned into a Heartless but somehow it retained it's physical form, mostly likely due to the fact that the creature's heart and body came from different sources. However there was one snag: while the body retained it's shaped, odd skin, hair, and eye pigmentation occurred, making it appear more Heartless-like."

The clip ended but all four of them were too stunned to say anything.


	9. Double Jeopardy

AN: I have made a world map for my fanfic. The map does contain spoilers for what worlds are going to show up (since only 4 out of 14 have appeared so far) so it does contain spoilers. If you're interested, the link will be posted on my profile.

* * *

Goliath and Sora glided over to the oil rig that the boat they had spotted went to. Goliath took them down to a perch where they could not be seen by the people. The two peered over to see two men down below. One of them had long brown hair stylized in a ponytail and a villainous looking goatee. He wore a trench coat and was carrying a briefcase of some sort. The other man had ginger colored hair stylized in a flat top and wore a blue windbreaker.

"Who are they?" Sora whispered to Goliath.

"The man with the briefcase is Xanatos," Goliath whispered back, "The other man is Doctor Sevarius, one of his minions."

Sora looked back down at the men. Sevarius was opening the briefcase that Xanatos was carrying. Inside, the case was filled with money. It looked to Sora like there was a million dollars in there. Suddenly, Xanatos grabbed the collar of Sevarius's shirt and hoisted him up by it. There was a fury in Xanatos's eyes while Sevarius's face showed surprise.

"Come," Goliath said, "We will leave those two to their business transaction. I think I heard something coming from inside this room."

Goliath gestured to a door behind them. Sora nodded and summoned his Keyblade. Firing a beam of light into the door's keyhole, Sora unlocked the door. Goliath walked in with Sora right behind them. What was inside took both of them by surprise. Chained to the wall was a Gargoyle who looked like Goliath but had pitch black skin, snow white hair, and blood red eyes.

"Goliath," the creature said, "I am Thailog."

Goliath looked stunned.

"What kind of abomination are you?" Goliath roared. Thailog growled.

"The same kind as you," Thailog hissed back, obviously offended.

"Oh my gosh!" Sora said gasping, "He's a clone! Goliath, they grew him from a piece of you."

"A piece of me? This thing IS me!" Goliath roared, spreading his wings, "First Xanatos steals my home and now he pieces out my SOUL!"

"Look, you have every right to be mad, but no right to take it out on Thailog," Sora said to Goliath, "Who cares how he came into existence? Now he's as much a Gargoyle as you are. In a way, he's sort of your son."

Goliath growled, "You're right of course. I will set him free."

The sound of a gun shot went off and Goliath roared in pain. He pull a sedative dart out of his back and moaned as he collapsed.

"That won't be necessary," Thailog said, "the shackles weren't locked."

He then turned to Sora. "And for the record, I'm more of a Gargoyle than he'll ever be."

Thailog approached Sora cackling that bone-chilling laugh. The next thing Sora knew, everything went black. When Sora came to, he was chained to the wall next to Goliath, Xanatos, and Sevarius.

"I'm impressed, Thailog," Xanatos said, "You played Sevarius like a harp and had me completely fooled into thinking that you'd been kidnapped by him. But if money was the bottom line, why didn't you just ask? We could have worked out an agreement."

"Maybe on your terms," Thailog said, "But not on mine. Did you really expect me to live out my life as your stooge and the doctor's private guinea pig? You two didn't go to all this trouble just to raise a fool."

"Typical," Sevarius spat, "You do and do and do for them, and what happens? They twist a knife in you!"

Thailog growled and grabbed Sevarius by the throat, "Don't tempt me." Thailog turned and walk towards the door holding Xanatos's briefcase.

"Time to go," Thailog said, "I have plans of my own and twenty million dollars to see them through."

Thailog cackled his spine chilling laugh again.

"Thailog, don't go down that path," Goliath said, appearing to be waking up, "Money is a necessary evil in Xanatos's world, not ours. Join my clan. Join YOUR clan."

Thailog scoffed, "And waste my nights playing guardian angel to a decrepit city filled with inferior humans? Where is the profit in that?"

"Life for a Gargoyle isn't about profit. It's about protecting those that you care about," Goliath replied.

"I considered caring about you," Thailog replied, "It took some effort but I arranged for you to join this party so that I could share the money with you. However, you've disappointed me so I've decided to hate you as well."

Thailog turned away from Goliath and walked right up to Sora.

"It's a shame about you, my boy," Thailog said, "I'm afraid you were just at the wrong place at the wrong time."

"I have a habit of that," Sora said turning away from Thailog's horrible red eyes.

"A shame?" Sevarius said frightened, "What does he mean by that?"

"He intends for us to die, doctor," Xanatos replied.

"Exactly," Thailog added, "This rig is not as empty as it looks. On my way out, I'm going to light this whole rig up as my three fathers go down in flames."

Thailog let out another of his frightening laughs.

"N-now what?" Sevarius asked, obviously frightened.

Sora squirmed his hands around and was able to slide right out of his hand cuffs.

"Now I get us out of here," Sora said.

"And how do you intend to do THAT?" Sevarius asked.

Sora summoned up his keyblade, much to the shock of Xanatos and Sevarius. He then unlocked Goliath, Xanatos, and Sevarius's shackles.

"Just like that," Sora said to Sevarius.

Thailog's fathers and Sora left their would-be tomb to find that the oil rig had been coated with oil by Thailog.

"The boat that I used to get out here is this way," Xanatos said, leading the way.

"Go with them Sora," Goliath said, " I must face Thailog."

"I can't let you face him alone!" Sora said, "I'm helping you whether you want me to or not."

Goliath nodded and the two of them headed for the upper decks. Xanatos and Sevarius shrugged and hopped in their boat and sailed off.


	10. Sins of the Fathers

Thailog kicked down another barrel of oil, spilling it's contents over the deck. The dark Gargoyle laughed his bone chilling laugh, when suddenly, he heard a "thud" behind him. Thailog whirled around to see Sora and Goliath standing behind him.

"Thailog," Goliath shouted, "There is still time. We can wipe the slate clean... start over!"

"Over my dead body!" Thailog growled, pulling out a silver flare gun from his belt. A stream of flame was shout out of the gun directly at Sora and Goliath. Sora dodge rolled out on the way and Goliath leaped to the side.

Thailog roared and fired again at Goliath. Again, Goliath leaped out of the way, but this time tackled Thailog, causing him to drop the briefcase of money that this whole scheme had been about.

"Goliath, look!" Sora shouted, pointing.

He was pointing where Thailog had fired before. The flare had caught onto a patch of oil and was now growing into a blazing inferno. The fire quickly began to spread and Goliath leaped to his feet.

"Come on, Thailog," Goliath called to the dark Gargoyle, "We must go or we shall be immolated!"

"Not without my money!" Thailog hissed as he ran to retrieve the briefcase. As he picked it up, the flames reached him and he disappeared into a blaze.

"NO!" Goliath shouted, heading for Thailog.

Sora grabbed Goliath's shoulder.

"Goliath, no," Sora yelled, "He's gone and we will be too if we don't hurry!"

Goliath growled and nodded and took flight with Sora in his arms. Xanatos and Sevarius looked on at the blazing oil rig. Xanatos hung his head, believing that Goliath and Sora had perished in the blaze.

"Look sir!" Sevarius exclaimed. He point at a dark shaped gliding towards them. Xanatos glared at the object.

"Is it Thailog or Goliath?" Xanatos pondered out loud.

With a large thud, the shape landed in the boat. Sora and Goliath stood before the two men. Xanatos smirked.

"I should have know no copy could top the original," Xanatos said.

Goliath roared angrily and grabbed Xanatos by the collar of his shirt.

"That copy was a living being!" Goliath growled, "And we all failed him."

"We have company..." Sevarius said pointing at two black forms flying ahead.

Brooklyn, Lexington, Donald, and Goofy landed on the boat.

"What did we miss?" Brooklyn asked, eying the oil rig.

"Let's just say it's been a long night," Sora replied.

"We had a busy night too!" Donald interjected.

"Yeah we learned a lot about Thailog," Goofy added.

"So did we, guys. So did we..." Sora said, deep in thought.

Upon arriving at shore, Sora sealed up Manhattan.

"It was nice meeting you guys," Sora said, "Hopefully next time we can hangout on more casual terms."

"It was good to meet some new human friends," Lexington said.

"Yes," Goliath added, "We hope your voyage is a safe one!"

Sora, Donald, and Goofy waved good-bye to their new friends as they took off in the Gummi ship, broken windshield and all.

Xanatos and Sevarius were riding back in Xanatos's limo.

"It's a shame about Thailog," Sevarius said, "All of that research and money put into him, all gone!"

"What makes you sure he's gone?" Xanatos replied.

"What do you mean?" Sevarius asked, puzzled.

"It's just occurred to me that if I was in that situation, I would have had a contingency plan to escape that oil rig. I would have known that faking my death was the optimal way of escaping scott-free with the money," Xanatos explained.

"You mean Thailog is still out there, he has the money, he's stronger than Goliath, and smarter than you?" Sevarius asked.

"Sevarius," Xanatos began, "I think we've created a monster..."

Thailog popped up from the water a mile from the rig. The money in hand, he walked onto shore, making sure that no one was watching. He darted quickly into an alley way and opened the briefcase. The money was slightly damp, but all there in perfect condition.

"Impressive," said a female voice from behind him.

Thailog whirled around to see a woman wearing a cloak of purple and black with a headdress of horns. Her skin was pale green and she held a golden staff in her hand.

"Who are you?" Thailog question.

"Let's just say that I have an offer you won't refuse," the witch stated. Thailog smirked. This could be a useful development...

* * *

AN: And so the plot thickens. Don't worry, I'm not going to forget about that broken windshield. I hope you enjoyed the first new world of the fanfic. Stay tuned, I've got some great surprises coming up.


	11. Sorry, Wrong World

"Set course for Radiant Gardens, Goofy," Donald ordered.

Goofy finished attaching a transparent tarp over the hole in the windshield that was made by Thailog.

"Right-o, Donald," Goofy replied.

"Radiant Gardens?" Sora asked, opening a Coke, "Why are we going back there?"

"Because we have a broken windshield and we need Cid to fix it," Donald explained, "That tarp's not gonna hold for long and definitely wouldn't survive a warp drive and if it doesn't survive, we don't survive."

Sora nodded and took a sip of his Coke.

"Is that the last Coke?" Donald asked suspiciously.

"Uh-huh," Sora said taking another slip.

"Hey!" Donald yelled, "I was saving that for myself!"

"Finders keepers," Sora shrugged. He gulped down another sip to tease Donald.

"WA-AH-AH-AH!" Donald screamed as he leaped up from his chair. He grabbed onto the Coke and tried to pull it out of Sora's hands but Sora held tight and pulled back.

"Hey it's mine!" Sora shouted.

"No," Donald yelled back, "It's mine!"

The both continue this tug of war a little longer until Donald finally succeeded in pulling it out of Sora's hands. However, he couldn't keep a solid grip on it and the Coke went soaring through the air and landed on the dashboard. It's contents spilled all over the ship's various controls and buttons.

"Now see what ya did?" Donald shouted at Sora.

"Me?" Sora replied, "This never would have happened if you hadn't gotten greedy!"

"Alright, that's enough!" Goofy yelled as he hopped up from the driver's seat, "Y'all are fighting like a bunch of children and now you've gone and destroyed the ship's computer! Now I'm gonna have to manually pilot this thing so I want you both to sit down and be quiet for the rest of the ride!"

Sora and Donald, clearly taken back by Goofy's sudden burst of anger, quickly sat down and didn't make a peep for the remainder of the flight.

"Here we are," Goofy announced as he took them down onto a world, "Radiant Gardens."

Sora looked out the window but the world didn't look like Radiant Gardens, however it did look familiar. Donald noticed it too.

"Aw, ya big palooka," Donald shouted, "This isn't Radiant Gardens! This is Twilight Town!"

A part of Sora leaped for joy at the mention of the town. He didn't know why, but he always felt some strong connection to Twilight Town. Riku had explained that it was because of his Nobody, Roxas.

"Well how was I supposed to know?" Goofy shouted back, "Without our computer, I can't tell which world is which."

"Why don't we land anyways," Sora said, "After all, we have to seal up all of the worlds and since his tower was destroyed, Yen Sid is staying here so we can talk to him."

Donald and Goofy both nodded. Today was definitely a weird day. Goofy was yelling and getting angry; Sora was being optimistic.

_Next thing we know, Donald's gonna be running around asking if anyone's seen Riku or Kairi, _Goofy thought to himself.

Goofy took the ship down and landed it in the woods just outside of town. They each hopped out and walked into the Tram Commons area. Hayner, Pence, and Olette were at the ice cream shop each buying a Sea-Salt Ice Cream. Sora waved and ran over to see them.

"Hey Sora!" Hayner called out.

"Hey Hayner," Sora replied, "How have you guys been?"

"We've all been doing good," Olette replied, smiling, "What about you guys?"

"Well..." Donald started before Goofy manually shut Donald's beak.

"We've been great," Sora said, laughing.

"Hey, we were gonna head up to the clock tower to eat our ice cream and watch the sunset. Would you guys like to come?" Pence asked.

"Sure," Sora said, nodding.

Hayner, Pence, and Olette headed up to the clock tower while Sora, Donald and Goofy bought themselves each an ice cream.

"Why do they make a salty ice cream?" Goofy asked.

"I don't know," Sora replied, "But it's tasty!"

The trio walked out of the ice cream shop and right into the last people you wanted to meet in Twilight Town, the Twilight Town Disciplinary Committee.

"Well, look who it is," Seifer said, smirking, "Chicken-wuss."

"Why don't we teach him a lesson, y'know?" Rai asked.

"Let's," Fuu said in her usual, short, monotone sentence.

"What do you want, Seifer?" Sora asked angrily.

"Oh not much," he replied, "Just a little pay back for humiliating me in the Struggle last year!"

"Not my fault if you can't take a hit," Sora said smirking.

Before he knew what was happening, Seifer kicked Sora to the ground and pinned him down with his foot.

"You think this is a joke, Chicken-wuss?" Seifer said, "You're gonna wish it was a joke once I'm threw with you!"


	12. Strength in Numbers

So there was Sora, a keyblade master, pinned down on the ground by Seifer, your typical, run of the mill, bully. Sora was tempted to use his Keyblade on Seifer, but Mickey had expressly told him never to use his powers on anyone who wasn't an agent of darkness. Donald and Goofy stood by, but, like Sora, weren't allowed to use their powers in this situation. However, Sora wasn't about to just lay there and get pummeled by Seifer.

Sora's thoughts went back to one of his magic lessons with Merlin. Merlin had explained to him that his magic spells that he performed were his thoughts controlling the Keyblade's magic and that casting those spells required a verbal command, but Merlin had also explained that Sora himself had the aptitude to cast spells without the keyblade just by focusing.

Sora had never done this kind of magic before but now was as good a time as any to learn. Sora closed his eyes and let his mind go blank, letting loose all anger, fear, and distracting thoughts. He visualized a lightning bolt coming out and striking Seifer. This image was the only thing that he allowed to cross his mind. He felt it in his heart and willed the lightning to strike.

Sora was so busy focusing on casting the spell that he remained completely oblivious to the thunder bolt that shot down and hit Seifer until he heard Seifer's girlish shriek. Sora opened his eyes to see Rai and Fuu carrying an unconscious Seifer in between them and walking off. Sora got up and looked at Donald who was crossing his arms and tapping his foot, all while glaring at Sora.

"Sora," Donald said sternly, "You know the rules."

"What?" Sora asked, "You know I have to use my Keyblade to do magic."

For a moment, it almost seemed like Donald believed him until Donald shook his head and quacked.

"Well," Donald started, "Who's gonna believe that you made that lightning bolt strike him?"

Donald winked. Sora smiled.

"Come on," Goofy said, "Our ice cream is gonna melt!"

The trio headed up to the clock tower and caught up with Hayner, Pence, and Olette. They explained everything that happened.

"What are the odds that lightning would hit Seifer right at that moment?" Pence said.

"Well, either way, Seifer got what was coming to him," Hayner laughed.

The six friends sat there and ate their ice cream for a few more minutes, chatting and laughing all through it. Suddenly, the sound of screaming came from Tram Commons.

"What's going on?" Olette asked.

"Sounds like trouble," Pence said.

"We'd better go help!" Sora announced.

All five of his friends there nodded and they darted off towards Tram Commons. Once they got there, Sora gasped. There, bouncing around in the city, was a Heartless. It resembled the Fire Lord and Blizzard Lord that Pete had summoned in Agrabah last year, but this one was almost completely yellow. It held a lance with a lightning motif at the tip and thunder bolts crashed around it. Sora, Donald, and Goofy drew their weapons and stood ready to fight the Heartless.

"Got room for one more?" Hayner asked as he ran up beside them.

"Count me in," Olette said, joining them.

"Me three!" Pence said as he joined the posse.

Over next to the accessory shop, Rai, Fuu, and Seifer looked on at the Heartless and the six friends ready to fight it.

"We gotta help 'em, y'know!" Rai said.

"Yes. Fight," Fuu added.

"What? Are you nuts?" Seifer asked, "I've already been struck by lightning once today, thank you very much. And why should we bother helping THEM?"

"I don't like those guys anymore than you," Rai replied, "But it would really suck if that thing destroyed the town, y'know!"

"Correct," Fuu said.

"Then go on," Seifer spat, "Go kill yourselves helping the chicken-wusses. Me, I've got things to live for."

Rai and Fuu ran up to the six friends.

"We're in, y'know!" Rai told them. Sora was shocked.

"Instant annihilation," Fuu said.

"Well here's the plan," Sora announced. He explained his plan to Donald, Goofy, and the five kids. Everyone nodded and ran off to a different location.

The Thunder Lord was bouncing around shooting lightning at the various buildings that it passed when Hayner ran out in front of it.

"Hey ugly!" Hayner called out. The Thunder Lord turned to face him and started bouncing towards Hayner. After Hayner led the Thunder Lord down the street a little ways, something threw a soda can at the Heartless.

"Here!" Yelled Fuu. The Thunder Lord turned and started bouncing after Fuu instead. After following Fuu a little bit, the Thunder Lord lost sight of her. It looked around for her but couldn't see her. It then heard a whistle and saw Pence to it's left waving.

The Thunder Lord turned again and started bouncing after Pence. Just at the point where Pence was supposed to hide and cause the Thunder Lord to go after Donald instead, he tripped. The Thunder Lord proceeded on and was about to flatten Pence, when Goofy dove from behind the alley way and pulled Pence away just before the Heartless landed.

Goofy and Pence ran past the exchange point with Donald following after them, confused. The Thunder Lord continued to bounce after them. The three ran to Sora's post.

"What happened?" Sora asked.

"Don't ask," Goofy said, "Just do your thing!"

Sora nodded. The Thunder Lord was almost upon him and just as the Thunder Lord was about to land on top of Sora, Sora stabbed it in the stomach with the Keyblade. He made sure that the head of the blade was fully inside the Heartless' large, balloon-like stomach and the started to spin. He spun and spun and spun and finally released, hurling the Heartless into a wall.

"Rai. Olette. NOW!" Sora shouted.

Rai and Olette nodded and together pulled the cap off of a fire hydrant. A strong stream of water rocketed out and shot onto the Thunder Lord. The hole in the Thunder Lord's stomach, created by Sora, let water into it's electric body. And with sparks flying everywhere, it popped.

The eight friends cheered at their success and high fived each other. By working together, they had stopped that Heartless from destroying the town. Seifer looked on and sneered.

"Ain't it a shame?" said a voice behind him. Seifer whirled around to see a large cat-like man standing behind him.

"What is?" Seifer asked.

"Well that kid humiliated you twice now. And now he's defeated the Heartless that you were too afraid to fight." Pete said smugly.

"SHUT UP!" Seifer yelled.

"And now look," Pete said, "He's turned your posse against you. They won't follow you anymore, you know?"

"I'll kill that kid!" Seifer spat.

"That's the spirit," Pete nodded, "But, y'know, he's stronger than you. To beat him, you need power."

"Yes," Seifer said to himself, "Power!"

"And I just so happen to work for someone who can give you that power. All ya gotta do is join her."


	13. Final Words

"Well," Sora said, "I guess it's time to seal and go."

Donald and Goofy nodded. Sora twirled his Keyblade in the air and stabbed it into the ground. However, this time, there was no quaking, no locking sound. Sora looked to Donald and Goofy for answers but they seemed just as baffled as he was.

"For some reason I can't seal this world," Sora thought out loud.

"Allow me to explain," a familiar voice echoed. Before them, Yen Sid materialized.

"Yen Sid!" All three friends exclaimed.

"It is good to see you all as well," Yen Sid said, "The reason that you cannot seal this world is because it has already been sealed."

"Oh, I see," Sora said, "Who sealed it? Riku? The King?"

"Me," Yen Sid stated.

"You?" Goofy asked, "But how?"

"With this," Yen Sid said as he summoned up a Star Seeker Keyblade.

The trio's jaws dropped.

"You're a Keyblade wielder?" Sora exclaimed.

"Long, long ago, I was," Yen Sid replied, "I have long since retired."

"Wow!" Donald said.

"At any rate," Yen Sid said, "I came here to give you a warning."

"A warning?" Sora asked, "But why?"

"My warning to you is this," Yen Sid started, "Beware of those who oppose you. Enemies united towards a common goal can be a dangerous obstacle. You must always put trust in your friends, because you all have something that they will never have: unity and teamwork. And there's something else..."

"What is it, Master Yen Sid?" Goofy asked.

"If an elderly woman with blonde hair and a bubbly personality comes up to tell you a story about a little place called St. Olaf... HIDE!" Yen Sid told them.

Yen Sid then dissolved before their very eyes.

"What do you suppose he meant by that?" Sora asked.

"Well," Goofy said, "I think he meant that if an elderly woman with blonde hair and a bubbly personality-"

"NOT THAT!" Donald interrupted, "He's talking about the villains uniting part."

"Well I guess he means that we're gonna have to face a whole bunch of old enemies at once," Goofy said.

Everyone was silent for a moment.

"Well," Sora said, breaking the silence, "I guess we'd better get going."

The trio hopped into the Gummi Ship, each one too stunned to speak. Donald rotated his seat to the control panel. Thankfully, the spilled Coke hadn't damaged the video phone. Goofy turned it on and made a call to Cid. Cid's face popped up on the monitor.

"Hey guys," Cid said, "What'cha need?"

"The Gummi ship is badly damaged," Donald said, "The windshield needs to be replaced and the computer is on the fritz."

"Well, the committee and I are working up at the castle, today," Cid stated, "So land on the castle bridge and meet me in the Entrance Hall and I'll take a look at the ship."

The trio nodded and the video monitor shut off. Goofy took them into Radiant Garden's atmosphere and landed the ship on the castle bridge as par Cid's instructions. Sora, Donald, and Goofy hopped out of the ship.

"This castle's always given me the creeps," Sora said, "It reminds me too much of Riku's fall to darkness and Maleficent and Ansem."

"Yeah," Donald said, "I hope this is the last time we have to come here."

The trio walked into the Entrance Hall. The ominous room seemed very much so empty.

"Cid?" Goofy called called out.

As he did, a plume of smoke appeared above the fountain. From it came Hades.

"Hey kid, long time no see," Hades said.

"Hades!" Sora shouted, "What are you doing here?"

"Who? Me?" Hades asked sarcastically, "Well I'm just chillin' like a villain. HA! Hey, by the way, thanks for dealing with my Hecate problem. I would cut ya some slack, but, hey, you were the one who assured Pain and Panic that it was _strictly business._"

Deep in Sora's heart, he regretted ever saying that to Pain and Panic. It was such a _stupid_thing to say!

"Now, kid," Hades said, "Bow to me!"

"Are you crazy, Hades?" Sora asked rhetorically, "We kicked your sorry hide all over the Underworld last time we fought!"

Sora then heard a noise that surprised him: the sound of flames crackling. In a flurry of green flames, Maleficent appeared next to Hades. Even from this distance, Sora could still feel the uncomfortable chill that the witch put off. He was surprised that Hades, a fire elemental, wasn't bothered by this.

"Hades and Maleficent? Together?" Goofy asked.

"Blame computer dating," Donald squawked.

"I think you'll find that this isn't the only surprise you'll have today," Maleficent bellowed.

Around the trio arose five more flurries of green fire. Out of each of them appeared one of their foes. Seifer appeared first, holding a blade similar to Leon's sword in his hand. Thailog appeared next, wearing blue and green armor that further distinguished him from Goliath. Then Kefka, the Sentinel, and Pete appeared, all relatively unchanged.

"Like I said," Hades said smugly, "Bow to your new masters, the Final Words!"


	14. Battle of the Final Words

AN: Sorry for taking so long to upload. This part has been hard to write because it's one big fight, and I really didn't know how to handle it but I did the best I could so I hope it doesn't disappoint.

They were surrounded. Seven of their deadliest foes all around. Sora, Donald, and Goofy were trapped. They were completely duped by Hades's trick. But Sora wasn't about to give up that easily. He looked at Donald and Goofy and they nodded. Sora nodded back and all at once, they made their move.

Sora leaped into the air and kicked Seifer right in the face. Seifer let out a girlish shriek and fired a blast from his Gunblade into the air. The bullet hit a statue up above, shattering it into rubble. The rubble poured down on top of Thailog and crushed the Gargoyle clone.

At the same time, Donald cast a thunder spell on the Sentinel. The electricity temporarily put it on the fritz for a few precious moments. And Goofy hurled his shield straight at Pete, nailing the brute right in the glass jaw. Disoriented, Pete stumbled and fell on top of Kefka.

"Run!" Sora yelled to his friends and the three of the ran out of the gate, just narrowly missing a fireball from Hades.

"GET UP YOU NEANDERTHALS!" Hades yelled, turning red with anger, "Destroy the town if you have to, but kill that blasted kid before he can get reinforcements!"

The Final Words stumbled to their feet and ran after the trio through the gate. Maleficent and Hades stayed on their perch and watched them run out. When the crowd of villains passed the Gummi ship, Thailog used his laser canon to destroy the ship's rockets.

The trio ran down the Restoration Site, all of the construction equipment left empty. Sora surmised that the workers must be on lunch break. Just then, a laser shot landed next to them, narrowly missing Donald. They turned around to see Thailog flying above them, laser canon in hand.

"Force!" Donald yelled and at that moment, a swirling sphere of black energy enveloped Thailog and pulled him down to the ground, knocking him unconscious.

The trio continued to run away and finally made it to the Bailey. As they ran up the newly repaired staircase, Goofy suddenly froze where he was. Kefka turned visible in front of them.

"Stop magic," Kefka chuckled, "This fall's _must have._"

As Kefka went to cast another spell on the others, Goofy, as if awakening from a sleep, came back to life and slammed his shield right into Kefka's face, knocking the clown unconscious. The trio continued their run into the town, only to find Pete, Seifer, and the Sentinel ready to head them off.

They six foes paired off. Goofy took on Pete. Donald went toe to toe with the Sentinel. And Sora crossed blades with Seifer. Despite being something of a coward, Seifer was certainly not lacking in his fencing ability as he was able to block Sora's every move and came very close to slicing Sora more than once. Sora figured that he must have been enhanced by Maleficent's magic.

Goofy and Pete went way back. They had been next door neighbors before Goofy had become the captain of the guards. They knew each other well. Pete was well prepared for Goofy's shield this time. Blocking his every attack with a force field yet still managing to hurl exploding bowling balls Goofy's way made him a dangerous opponent.

Donald's duel with the Sentinel went with a basic pattern: dodge laser, cast thunder, dodge laser, and so on. After several minutes, the trio realized something: they were too evenly matched for their opponent. With a subtle gesture, Sora signaled to the party and they swapped their opponents. Sora took the Sentinel, Goofy took Seifer, and Donald took Pete.

With a thunder raid, Sora hurled his Keyblade at the Sentinel, taking its head clean off. Seifer's swordsmanship amounted to nothing against Goofy. Protected by his shield, Seifer couldn't land a hit. And after a tornado move, Seifer was out cold. Pete's exploding bowling balls, while a dangerous weapon for Pete also proved to be a dangerous weapon for Donald. With a reflect spell, Donald sent Pete's bowling ball right back at him, sending the baddy flying back into a brick wall from the explosion.

Maleficent and Hades watched from the castle.

"Hmm, my Final Words team isn't performing as I'd hoped," Hades said.

"They've all been taken out!" Maleficent shouted.

"I believe it's up to us, babe," Hades replied.

The trio raced to Merlin's house to get the Restoration Committee but just before they could get to the door, a large circle of flames surrounded them. Hades and Maleficent appeared before them.

"You go nowhere, kid," Hades spat.

Sora, Donald, and Goody drew their weapons and prepared for the fight of their lives. They were hot and cold at the same time. Maleficent practically radiated chill while Hades and his flaming circle made things almost unbearably hot. Sora couldn't figure out how Hades and Maleficent stood each others' temperatures.

Just as Maleficent looked as though she was going to scratch Sora's eyes out, a watery mist suddenly descended upon them, extinguishing the circle of flames as well as Hades hair, much to the trio's amusement.

"Need a hand?" Merlin chuckled as he appeared from the mist. Leon, Yuffie, Cid, Cloud, Tifa, and even Stitch joined Merlin and formed a circle around them where the fire was. Each member of the Restoration Committee had their weapons aimed directly for Hades and Maleficent.

For a moment, Sora though he saw a twinge of fear in Maleficent, something he had never seen the normally cool and collected sorceress do. Hades also looked slightly nervous, but, being a god, had much less to loose than the sorceress.

"Nobody move!" a voice yelled from off to the side.

Over there stood Kefka and Thailog holding Aerith at gunpoint. The clown wore a sadistic grin and Sora could see the confidence flowing back into Maleficent and Hades's faces.

"Or the little flower girl gets a laser through her head!" Kefka cackled insanely and terror ran through Sora's spine.


	15. Hostage Crisis

"Now, you're at MY mercy!" Kefka cackled as Thailog nudged Aerith with his gun. Tears were pouring down her cheeks.

"Let her go, Kefka!" Sora shouted at the clown.

"Oh, I fully intend to," he said, "Just as long as you do EXACTLY as I say!"

Sora nodded his head in defeat.

"Now," Kefka started, "Release hothead and his bimbo."

The Restoration Committee parted their circle. Maleficent and Hades quickly walked out, as if embarrassed by this whole situation. They soon rejoined Kefka and Thailog.

"Now, I want you to send Merlin to retrieve our three other idiots. No trick, you old goat. There ain't no magic that I won't sense coming and no force in the universe faster than Thailog's trigger finger."

Merlin scowled and disappeared in a puff of smoke. A few seconds later, he reappear with Seifer, Pete, and the Sentinel, all badly beat up but slowly recovering. They then hobbled over to join the rest of their group.

"Good boy, Sora. You passed the obedience test. The little flower girl here will be back in your hands in no time! Now, you'll understand that we need some security to ensure that you little 'heroes' don't knock us out of the sky as we fly away so we're holding on to the flower girl until we leave Radiant Garden's atmosphere."

"No way!" Sora shouted, "How do we know you won't just kill her when you don't need her anymore?"

"You don't," Maleficent sneered, "But you're not really in a position to bargain, now are you?"

Sora groaned and again hung his head in defeat. Hades and Kefka beamed with joy. Maleficent waved her arms in the air and a Gummi ship shaped like a dragon's head appeared. The boarding ramp came down and all but Kefka and Thailog boarded. Thailog slowly back up into the ship, still holding his gun to Aerith's head. Kefka strutted up the ramp and when he got to the top, turned around to face the committee.

"Arrividerci!" Kefka shouted back and he blew them a mocking kiss as the boarding plank closed back up into the ship.

The villainous Gummi ship then took off into the atmosphere. Sora, Donald, and Goofy looked up at it from below, helpless.

Aerith was sobbing up in the ship. Thailog had put down his gun, but was still holding onto her. Kefka walked up to Aerith and put his hand under her chin.

"You are a pretty young thing," Kefka laughed, "I was engaged to a pretty girl like you once too. You see, back when I was a king, against my mentor's wishes, I married a woman whom I had found at a neighboring castle. We were wed at once! But, little did I suspect that my darling wife was adulterous! She was getting it on with one of my finest knights! I banished the knight from the kingdom and sentenced my wife to death. He showed up, rescued her, and carried her off to his castle. My men and I pursued and killed them both. However, we I returned to my kingdom, I discovered that my son had taken my throne! I battled against him and slew him, but not before he cleaved my skull. I was then sent to the mystical island of Avalon to heal my wounds. I did indeed heal them but the magic also drove me to insanity. So you see, that's why I-"

But Kefka was interrupt by the sound of a ship's canon firing. The ship shook violently as the blast hit the engine. In the shaking, Aerith has slipped free of Thailog's grasp. Kefka lunged to catch her but she leaped from the ship and landed right in the open cockpit of Sora, Donald, and Goofy's Gummi ship.

Kefka was dumbfounded. His hostage had quite literally slipped through his fingers. He cried out in rage and hurled an immense orb of dark energy at the Gummi ship. The Gummi ship swerved and easily avoided it. Sora saluted to Kefka and turned the Gummi ship around.

Kefka collapsed and just stared at where the ship had been. He'd been outsmarted, by a pack of children, no less!

Sora looked back to see the Dragon shaped gummi ship fly away. They might have gotten away, but he had saved Aerith! He had been the one flying, and without the left rocket or the luxury of a computer. Donald and Goofy talked to Aerith to make sure she was alright as Sora landed the ship in the town square. The four raced out of the gummi ship to the thunderous applause of the Restoration Committee.

"I knew you could do it, my lads!" Merlin beamed.

"That was one heck of a rescue," Leon added.

"And with a damaged ship, no less!" Cid said, "That was some ace flying there. Now since you returned Aerith safely, I'll make the repairs to your ship personally, for FREE!"

All Sora could do was smile. He felt incredible!

"Gawrsh Sora, you know them Final Words are still out there!" Goofy said.

"And next time, we'll be ready for them," Sora said beaming.

Across the vast reaches of space, the villain gummi ship landed in the square of Traverse Town. Hades was furious! He'd been made to look like a rookie and a fool. Not only had they failed to kill the hated boy, but they had also lost their hostage. Hades was a bright shade of red and his hair was bright yellow.

"I TOLD YOU IDIOTS NOT TO LET HIM GET REINFORCEMENTS!" Hades shouted at the group.

"You did no better, pathetic user," the Sentinel replied.

"It doesn't matter," Kefka said in an irate voice, "None of it does. For you see, this was all just a game. And you played your parts!"

Kefka then stomped into an alley way and waved his arms. In an instant, a portal to a Hellish dimension appeared. Kefka walked through and bowed to a shadowy, horned figure sitting on a throne.

"The pieces are in place, my lord"


	16. Hearts Joined in Darkness

**AN: Yes, I know, this is a SUPER late update. I have been suffering from writer's block on Sora's next chapter so I decided to go ahead and sort of do a catch-up on Riku and Kairi this chapter. The next few chapters will feature continuations of Riku and Kairi's stories so I hope you enjoy.**

Riku was surrounded. Nearly fifty Neoshadows were all around him. Sweat poured down his face as Riku awaited the Heartless to make their move and swarm him. Suddenly, a ball of light began leaping around through the crowd of Neoshadows, destroying some and scattering the others. Once the Heartless were scattered, Riku easily sliced through the stragglers. Riku sliced through the last of the Neoshadows and turned to his partner.

"Thanks," Riku said.

"No problem, Riku," Mickey responded happily.

Riku and Mickey had been traveling through the Realm of Darkness since they left Destiny Islands almost two weeks ago. The two keyblade wielders were no strangers to this realm. After the defeat of Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness, the two had been locked away in it in order to seal the door.

A growling noise caught both of their attention and they both summoned up there Keyblades. From out of the darkness, appeared an immense Heartless. This particular Heartless looked like a giant combination of the Dark Thorn and the Behemoth. Perhaps the most frightening aspect of this creature, however was its glowing red eyes. Mickey blasted the creature with an orb of light and the creature leaped back into the darkness as quickly as it had come.

"Is it gone?" Riku asked.

"Don't count on it!" Mickey responded.

Behind them, in the darkness, two glowing red eyes watched their every move. Riku felt that uncomfortable sensation that you have when you know you're being watched. Riku turned around just in time to see two glowing red eyes disappear into the darkness. Riku stood there petrified, too frightened to speak.

Riku wasn't normally frightened by creatures of the darkness. Normally, they fell within a few easily swings of the keyblade. However, there was something about this particular Heartless that sent shivers down Riku's spine. Riku was still frozen in place until the King's voice pulled him out of the trance.

"Riku! Look out!"

Riku turned around just in time to avoid being turned into a human pancake. He rolled out of the way of the Heartless and summoned up all of the light and strength inside of him. In one masterful lunge, Riku projected himself right through the beast as if he were a human bullet. The creature writhed in agony as the open wound began pouring out darkness. The Heartless leaped back into the darkness whence it came.

"You okay, Riku?" Mickey asked.

Riku nodded. But suddenly, something caught Riku's attention. On a floating piece of stone stood a cloaked figure. Riku began to run towards the figured and leaped from platform to platform after the man. From somewhere behind him, Riku could make out the faint sound of Mickey calling after him but it didn't matter to him. All that mattered was this cloaked man.

Something about this cloaked figured stirred up powerful emotions inside of Riku, even though he had no idea of who this man was. However, whoever he was, the man put off a potent stench of Darkness, so strong that it could be detected even over the dark stench of the very realm. The figured turned to Riku as he landed on the same floating platform.

"Who are you?" Riku asked angrily.

The man laughed.

"You wish to see the face beyond this hood. Then I shall not disappoint."

The man removed his hood and Riku's eyes went wide with surprise.

"Not you! NOT YOU!" Riku called out.

Kairi sat on the Paopu Tree with Pluto. Sitting. Watching. Waiting. She turned to the faithful dog sitting next to her.

"What good am I doing sitting here?" Kairi asked.

She wasn't sure who she was asking, though. Pluto couldn't respond or understand and there was no one around to hear her. She decided that she had been asking herself that question. She began to think harder. She was a keyblade wielder too! There was no reason why she shouldn't be out there too. She had been left behind on the island for too many times. It was time to act!

"C'mon, Pluto," Kairi said to the dog, "We're not just going to wait around."

Pluto looked at her curiously.

"I'm a Princess of Heart, remember," Kairi said more to reassure herself than Pluto, "I'm not sure why but somehow I can feel that I have to power to visit other worlds on the strength of my heart alone. Am I making sense?"

Pluto just kept staring at her.

"No," Kairi thought aloud, "Of course not."

Kairi gripped onto her good luck charm and thought back to when she was younger. In school, they always used to make these good luck charms. They called them Wayfinders and a little rhyme went along with them. Kairi remember and said it out loud.

"Wayfinder. Find me the way. Through bright and dark. Through Night and Day."

Suddenly, Kairi felt as though something were pulling her. Winds began to swirl around her, Pluto's barks became louder and more urgent, and, yet, she was not afraid. She was confident in herself and in her heart. She wasn't going to just sit on the sidelines and wait.

Kairi awoke to Pluto licking her face in some sort of back alley. When she opened her eyes, something in the back of her heart remembered this as if she had been in this exact situation before. Kairi stood up and began to look around this world. Something about this place was extremely familiar.

Pluto began to bark. Kairi whirled her head to see what it was. She gasped at what she saw. There, in a pile of junk was an old and worn out sign with the words _Welcome to Traverse Town_ printed on it.


	17. Evil's Afoot

"Ansem!" Riku yelled at the figured standing before him.

The villain smirked at Riku's realization.

"So that's what your darkness looks like," the figured said sinisterly.

Riku clenched his fists in rage, ready to attack the figure. As if sensing Riku's desire to attack, Ansem fired a blast of darkness at Riku which knocked the hero onto his back. Ansem pulled up his hood and disappeared into darkness. Mickey finally caught up to Riku.

"Where did he go?" Mickey asked, looking around.

"He got away," Riku spat.

"Who was that guy anyways?" Mickey asked.

"It was Ansem... I mean... Xehanort's Heartless," Riku responded.

Mickey gasped in disbelief.

"But we already defeated him!" Mickey said, "How did he come back?"

"I wish I knew...," Riku said, pondering, "So. Where to now?"

"We find Sora and catch him up on things," Mickey responded.

Riku nodded and pulled out his star shard. Mickey did the same. In two flashes of light, the Realm of Darkness was empty of life once more.

* * *

Kairi peeked around the corner into the second district. While the first district of the town was relatively quiet, the second district was bustling with unsavory figures. All of them seemed to be congregating in a building called _The Hellfire Club_.

Kairi and Pluto sneaked-up the tavern as quietly as possible and peered in. The whole place was swarming with villains. Kairi was well versed on the names of the villains but she knew that this crowd was trouble. She ducked back into an alleyway with Pluto.

"Okay," Kairi said to Pluto, "This place is swarming with villains. I'm going to go inside in disguise to see if I get any information and what's been destroying worlds. You wait out here. Got it?"

Pluto barked in recognition. Kairi smiled and look around in the trash of the alley. After a few second of searching, she found a discarded cloak like ones Organization XIII wore. She put it on and walked in. She looked around at the various shady deals going on.

"And all that treasure is only a boat ride away. So who's with me?" said a large man with a robotic arm to a crowd of ugly looking creatures.

"...And I takes 'em to Pleasure Island," an Italian man said to a clothed fox and cat.

"Now I lent ya money, Mr. Edgar, and I don't see it," said an intimidating man smoking a cigar to a bald man in a suit that looked like a butler.

However, one table in particular caught Kairi's eye. Four villains were sitting at it. One of them was a woman with black and white hair wrapped in a fur coat. Another was a muscular man who was surprisingly handsome for a villain. Next to him was a large and intimidating man wearing purple armor. The last person was a woman whose face was hidden under a red cloak.

"Tell me more about Sora," the cloaked woman said.

"Oh that wretched boy gave Maleficent herself a run for her money," the woman in furs said, "And that boy rounded up those blasted dogs that my minions spent so much time hiding. Take my advice, steer clear."

"I don't think he's all that tough," said the handsome man, "I could whip his butt with my eyes closed. I'd shoot him down in his tracks. Unlike that would-be hunter, Clayton."

The cloaked woman flinched a bit as if trying to resist hitting the handsome man.

"I hear that kid has powerful magic," the armored man said, "I'll need to have my Grubs conduct more tests on him before I can say for sure if the kid is any trouble."

"Now when I get to the jungle, how will I recognize him," the cloaked woman asked.

"Well he has spiky hair," the woman in furs said, "And carries around a giant key. Personally, I think he's trying to compensate for something."

Kairi held back a laugh and made a mental note to warn Sora about these four. Kairi sat down at the bar.

"What can I get for you, my pretty?" the old hag bartender asked Kairi.

"Information," Kairi responded.

"What kind of information?" the old hag asked in almost a whisper.

"I want to know who's been destroying the worlds," Kairi replied back in a whisper.

"I'm sorry," the old hag replied, "I've heard of no such plots in my bar."

"Okay," Kairi said, disappointed, "Thanks anyways."

Kairi hopped up and walked out of the bar. The old hag immediately walked into the back room of the bar. It was dimly lit and inside were Hades and Maleficent conversing with a French man named Judge Claude Frollo and a skeletal man known only as the Horned King.

"Speciosus morvosus precarious," the hag said as her aged form gave way to the form of a beautiful woman with black hair, a silver tiara, and a long flowing purple dress.

"What is it, Narissa?" Maleficent asked the woman.

"A girl was just here asking about the destruction of the worlds," Narissa replied.


End file.
